Dogra outfit demands release of its leader from house arrest

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 17: The Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS) on Saturday demanded immediate release of its leader and former minister Choudhary Lal Singh, saying the action against him “smacks of a political conspiracy”.
Singh, a former BJP leader and Jammu and Kashmir minister, has been under house arrest since August 7. The action came in view of the Centre scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and dividing the state into two Union Territories.
“Singh was the first leader from Jammu to welcome abrogation of Article 370, yet he was placed under detention,” the DSS said in a statement here.
It said a delegation of the party led by its general secretary Hari Dutt Shishu met Additional Divisional Commissioner on Friday and submitted a memorandum addressed to Governor Satya Pal Malik to seeking Singh’s immediate release.